Sunday, December 4, 2011

DOG FACED CORPSE

Dog Faced Corpse is an Iraqi death metal band from Baghdad , the band was founded by drummer Lateef on the 1st of August - 2008 and the band is considered as the first band that plays Death Metal from Iraq .. with one aim .. creating extreme music that rapes your ears… So you fuckers, if you read the following lines, you´ll get an impression what it means being Death Metal there. Let us rise the curtain!

Hi guys, how are you? Did you have a bomb-free night? How much humor do you actually tolerate, with all the shit that happens over there?

Samer: Hey bro, hahaha i'm fine thank you....we actually got used to the sudden bullet firing and the explosions after the first two years, how ever it's much better now than what we used to have here in Baghdad...so yeah me and my buds r doin' good but with some usual concern of things getting worse in a moment...Ok, give me some details about the band!Lateef: Dog Faced Corpse started in 2008 with only me writing few sounds, some members joined later, we also did some gigs at that time in Baghdad. There was a "total metal silence" at that time when we did our first gig in Baghdad in 2008, people got thrilled to see a metal band playing live, that shit owned man!Things are going better than ever right now, we have a full lineup with plenty of songs and we're willing to expand the sickness with our upcoming demo CD and a full length later, we also got signed recently with a cool underground Swedish label "Salute Records".How did you discover death metal for yourself?Samer: I begun to have a nag for discovering a heavier style than thrash metal which I begun to listen to when I was 15 or so, by that time I heard of Death metal which I got drawn to very fast, because it got what I really needed from metal, considering music and the brutal ideas that came with it.Which bands are your main influence and why?

Lateef: We listen to all types of metal in general but death metal and its sub genres is what we're really into, when we write music we try to create a balance between brutality and technique, bands like Suffocation , Gorgasm , Spawn Of Possession , Atheist , Cynic , Death , Defeated Sanity , Origin , Mortal Decay , Kraanium , Devourment , Dying Fetus , Amagortis , Morbid Angel , Pestilence and some others inspired us and have been our influences for a long time now , not to mention our jazz fusion and classical influences : Allan Holdsworth , Chopin , Bach , Shawn Lane and few others.Still we have our thing going on such as the oriental feel in some of our riffs since we're a Middle Eastern mofos! hehe . You'll know what I mean when you listen to our upcoming demo on January 2012,make sure to get a copy of the demo CD when it’s up.

Actually I have heard some of your songs and it seems you are really into the jazz/fusion stuff. Do you like it to elaborate your sound in a wide range?Lateef: We believe that jazz and jazz fusion is the smartest genre in music! The way of brilliance it's written and interpreted into the table , the complexity of it is far beyond explanation , I just love the sound of it even though we're not really getting deep with jazz when we write our music, just a splash of that will do us well! It’s like the climax or when you jizz all over after nailing a real hot cunt! Hahaha

You are playing some covers of the legendary DEATH. Is Mr. Schuldiner your main-idea generator?Samer: the godfather of DM is the main idea generator of the whole genre he took it to the next level from the beginning, so it is to me and all the DM fans a big ideas generator.

You had some lineup changes in the past. That doesn't look like stability, right? What´s up?

Lateef: Your right, the thing is, most of the musicians we know here are not really into this extreme kind of music , most of the ex members left the band because of that, they rather play mellower stuff except for Mohammed Ali(ex guitarist) who left the band cause he's busy with work and study. We had a rough time finding members and recording with the shitty gears we have and the lack of studios in Baghdad so we're doing everything all on our own.

Tell me something about your upcoming album and your label!

Lateef: The upcoming demo album is gonna be our first physical release ever, we're really excited to put it out for the listeners, you have no idea how hard it was to do it due to the circumstances. It’s a 3 song demo with an old bonus song with the same title as the band's name, the track list will be like:01- The Drill02- Broiled03- Channel of decomposed bodies04- Dog Faced Corpse(Bonus track)The release is a combination between slamming/brutal death metal with technical influences as well. We actually wanted to print and release the demo ourselves since it’s our debut demo, but we couldn't find proper companies that do these things here so we started thinking of labels that can do that for us, I can tell you we had a real rough time finding one cause most of the labels need bands with full length albums. Then a friend of mine ( Yaser Aka: Lord Erragal ) who has a one-man series of projects (Erragal, Kurgal and Amelnakru) recommended Salute Records(Sweden) for us, we contacted the dude from the label, his name is Tony and he got excited to work with us and release our demo.What are your lyrics about?Samer: It's about an actual happenings, vicious scenes that took place in our cities, neighborhoods, and streets, also sectarian clashes and what's left of the disgusting ideas behind it.

What about the enthusiasm for death metal in Iraq? More than a handful of idealists?Lateef: Death metal in Iraq is not actually well-known to metalheads, the majority prefer slower, mellower, less extreme genres , there have been plenty of metal bands in the past most of them were heavy metal! Death metal is kinda new to Iraqis and I can tell you that we're the first band that plays death metal here, for us it’s the only genre that can fit the theme we're into.

You have chosen a band name that sounds brutal, but reality is more brutal. Tell us about the origin of the name?

Lateef: The band's name came to my head when I saw a picture with an article in a newspaper in 2006 about an Iraqi dude who got kidnapped by some militants and got beheaded then they stitched a dog's head into his body instead of his head. So I was thinking: what’s the best name for a death metal band? A corpse with a dog's head .. hmm lemme see .. Dog Faced Corpse ? .. FUCK YES!!Do you hate it, if you get treated like exotic birds, because for the western bigotry metal and Iraq are incompatible with one another?

Samer: It got to me at first but now I got used to it, and I found my way to fit with the circumstances that we're forced to deal with, like dressing ordinarily and with beards and goatties to have them shortened and such things of speaking out our opinions in public, it is one of the main reasons that made Dog Faced Corpse the band that it is now.

How I have to imagine death metal in Iraq? I mean we hang up in bars, drinking and swear like a trooper, laughing and screaming, we are sexists (sometimes) and blasphemous, and we are surfeited of too many shows we can visit every week. How is it to be “death metal” in your hometown?

Samer: To get the main idea about our scene (DM in Iraq) is not quite hard, just like Lateef said before it's not a common genre here!!, Few people listen to it and most of them I know personally, it’s all about the actual bands and their albums that we get (download mostly...sorry!) and listen to discussing their music work and how we enjoyed it and how it affected us.Concerning the details u described we (band members and other friends we know) also have fun laughing, cursing, doing some punks, some drink alcohol and some not, some say they are blasphemous or don't believe in any god and some not, I myself stick to being (A Muslim) so the choice is personal to and we respect each other the way we r and not by the religious view what so ever.Concerning the shows as u know there r no band representing DM other than DFC so no concerts to go to in the DM genre but DFC's gigs, we try to put a great energy into it...although we had some thrash metal gig's with the Iraqi based thrash band Fatalogy and some other bands that worked in other genres like Olympus.

I´m sure you know the documentary about ARCASSICAUDA. How close is the story to the reality, concerning the circumstances for musicians in your country?

Lateef: Yea I know these guys and I've watched the documentary and I can tell you they acted like pussies and they exaggerated like drama queens to get exposure hehe, but anyways it’s really difficult for any "dedicated metal band" here to do their own shit.

Religion, which sort so ever, play a peripheral role in Germany. We have a vast number of people who deny their church. Our gods are money and success. Can you understand that?Samer: Same here bro ,it's no big difference in here having people that avoid mosques and churches, money is the main idea that drove this country where it got to now...it's all about a big war between the ones with power to get the money and control over the country which they believe it's what success represents stepping over the weak and helpless.US – TV stations sold your first (?) show as a success of the western sort of democracy in Iraq. What’s your point of view about it? Maybe the circumstances are more complex than the public knowledge!

Lateef: Democracy my ass! I got threatened just 40 minutes after I was done with our first show , I had to stay home for a whole year , I had to leave school and I got threatened and had been told to cut my hair! We don't trust anyone here not even the police nor the military. I just graduated from civil engineering college and I’ve been looking for a job but all I get is: We can’t hire you until you cut your hair. And I´m just one case off millions of oppressed people here in this shitty society that has been created after the war in 2003.

I mean they give you publicity because of your origin, not concerning your music, right?Lateef: Of course! And we really hate that. Music should be treated for what it is.

Do you think the withdrawal of the US troops has positive/negative effects for the band?Samer: I actually have no idea, we'll see what the future will bring to us! And leave it at that point.

The chief task of music is entertainment, any claims are secondary. Or should I see it different in your situation?

Lateef: The only sympathy we deserve as a band is the sound quality and the lack of studios, what I mean is that you’re not allowed to compare the mastering quality of our demo with a band that had the chance and the money to record their music in a professional studio, we did everything in my bedroom (a simple home studio). Just judge the music!Ok, last spot is yours!

Samer: I would like to thank ur blogspot for the chance of making an interview with u, we have done few interviews with German people before, so we had developed a great idea about ur country. Besides what's actually you are famous with across the world with reputation...and glad we had the chance to express our ideas and feelings through your very good questions...all our best and regards to our families and friends that stood beside DOG FACED CORPSE and the DM bands that inspired us through the years...CHEERS! FACEBOOK

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